DIY Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy > But Beware a Glitch in the Popular Pi Pico Microcontroller.

The global semiconductor shortage has made life tough for anyone using microcontrollers, with lead times now sometimes quoted in years. But there has been one bright spot: the US $4 Pi Pico, a micro-controller based on the new RP2040 chip. Not only does the RP2040 have lots of compute power, it hasn't suffered the kind of shortages afflicting other chips. So when I decided to build a cheap DIY scintillating gamma spectrometer, it was the natural choice—although I didn't realize I'd find myself navigating around teething problems of the sort that often affect a first-generation integrated circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]